


Who Are You

by MamaBear7319



Series: The Happier, Friendlier Timeline (2014) [6]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Gen, Irondad, Peter Shouldn’t Go To School Dances, spiderson
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-10
Updated: 2020-10-10
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:54:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,887
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26929210
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MamaBear7319/pseuds/MamaBear7319
Summary: It’s Homecoming, Peter’s Junior Year.  He hasn’t been battling any Super Villains lately so it should be fine.It’s so not fine...
Series: The Happier, Friendlier Timeline (2014) [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1934734
Comments: 7
Kudos: 27





	1. Homecoming

"Peter, you should give it a chance. You're only in High School for a short time." Pepper looked at Peter sympathetically.

"I almost died last time."

Pepper looked between Tony and Peter. "It couldn't have been that bad."

"No really, he almost died." Tony shook his head at the memory. "Crashed a plane from the outside, had a building dropped on him. Almost died." He put heavy emphasis on the last two words.

Pepper stared at Tony. He had never filled her in on the events of the last Homecoming Dance. "What do you mean had a building dropped on him?"

"The Vulture took out all of the support beams in an abandoned warehouse and it collapsed while I was inside. I had to lift several tons of debris off my back." Peter had moved past the event so it was almost funny to watch the expression on Peppers' face.

"Why didn't you tell me about this? Both of you!" She smacked Tony on the arm. "Was this before or after the plane crash?"

"Oh, it was before." Peter was having fun with Pepper at this point. It wasn't helping that Tony was trying hard not to laugh and failing miserably.

"Wait, this was when you were moving from Avenger Tower?" Pepper has seen the crash site the next day. Tony and Happy had already moved all of the tech by the time she got there. "The plane was destroyed. In a million pieces spread across at least a mile of the beach. What do you mean you were on the outside?"

Tony leaned back and crossed his arms. He wanted to hear Peter explain what he did to Pepper.

"Well after I almost got sucked into an engine I stuck myself to a wing. I realized the plane was headed towards Brooklyn. So I manually adjusted the flaps to turn the plane." Peter looked over at Tony and smiled. Pepper was way too easy of a target.

Pepper stared at Peter and then turned to look at Tony. "He almost died!"

"Yep. Which is why he doesn't want to go to the dance." Tony honestly didn't care one way or the other. If Peter wanted to go he'd completely overdo it and probably embarrass the kid. If he didn't want to go that was great too. He had already offered for MJ, Ned, and whoever else to come over and skip the dance. They could have their own party here. He'd still probably embarrass him. It was times like this where it was fun to have a teenager in the house.

Peter sighed. "Ned wants to go because he has a date."

“Who’s Ned going with?" Pepper sat forward and did her best to forget about the fact that Peter had almost died a year ago.

"Betty Brandt. She's on the decathlon team this year."

"Is that the blond?" Pepper cycled through all of the people on the decathlon team. She and May had gone to the parent meeting last week and met most of their parents.

Peter nodded. "He's really excited about it. So I guess I have to go. There's just about a million other things I'd rather do."

Tony smiled. "Maybe it'll just be a normal boring dance and nothing exciting will happen. Does MJ have her dress yet? You probably need a new suit."

Peter stared at Tony. "Please don't go overboard."

Pepper shook her head. "Peter, you've grown 2 inches in the last couple months alone. You need a suit." She turned to Tony. "Don't go crazy but can you take him to get one?"

Peter looked at Pepper like she had just given him a death sentence.

XXXXXXXXXX

Peter stood in front of a mirror and stared at the tie. He hadn't tied a tie since the last Homecoming Dance. He honestly had no idea how to even start. He looked over and saw Tony leaning against the door frame. "I don't understand how you're comfortable wearing suits on a regular basis."

"Well, if you notice, I only wear ties when I absolutely have to. Half the time I wear a t-shirt instead of a dress shirt. Which I think I tried to get you to do." Tony walked over and stood behind Peter and started tying his tie.

"You can get away with a t-shirt. If I did it I'd just stand out which I definitely don't want." Peter watched the motions Tony went through. It still looked like a lot of trouble.

Tony took a step back and looked at Peter in the mirror. "You look good, kid. Are you ready? Happy should be here soon with MJ and her parents." Pepper had suggested to MJ's parents that they come over. The adults could all take their obligatory pictures and then MJ and Peter could head out. Then the adults were having dinner. None of them had spent a lot of time with MJ's parents despite how long Peter and MJ had been dating.

Peter sucked in a breath. "I guess so. You did manage to keep everyone else from showing up, right?"

"Correct. Although I'm supposed to send them pictures." Tony paused, "Just a heads up, I would not put it past Natasha to show up at some point tonight. She does not always understand what no means."

"It means _nyet_." Peter smirked. You didn't hang out with two assassins fluent in Russian without picking up a few things.

Tony smiled, "Come on, Pepper and May want pictures."

Peter groaned.

"So life lesson. Someone is always taking a picture. Especially these days. You might as well embrace it. That way you end up with fewer embarrassing pictures." Tony threw an arm around Peter's shoulder and guided him out of the room. "Second life lesson. Enjoy yourself. You're acting like you're going in front of a firing squad."

XXXXXXXXXX

Peter looked up when the elevator doors opened. Happy stepped off with MJ's parents. MJ stepped off behind them and Peter's jaw dropped.

Tony smirked at the look on Peter's face. He watched Pepper walk over and greet MJ's parents and usher them into the living room. He nudged Peter with his shoulder which prompted the teen to move.

Peter walked over to MJ. "Wow." It was the only thing he could come up with. "You look great."

MJ rolled her eyes. "I think all of your little friends missed out on their childhoods and are trying to live vicariously through us. Natasha took me shopping. It's hard to believe she's an assassin. She really enjoys stuff like this."

Confusion rolled across Peter's face. "Did you just call the Avengers my 'little friends'? And I can't believe you let Natasha take you shopping."

MJ shook her head. "Yeah, you can't actually tell her 'no'. I can tell anyone 'no'. Except her. It's uncanny."

"Yeah, about that. Tony warned me that we shouldn't be surprised if she shows up at some point. Tony told her and the rest of them that they couldn't come over tonight. She doesn't listen to him either." He glanced over his shoulder. "We should probably get this over or we'll never make it to the restaurant to meet Ned and Betty."

MJ looped her arm through Peter's outstretched one and they headed over to the six adults that all had some kind of camera in their hands. Even Happy.

XXXXXXXXXX

Peter and MJ impatiently waited for the elevator doors to close. Peter was pleasantly surprised that out of the six adults - MJ's mom and dad, Happy, May, Pepper, and Tony - Tony acted the least ridiculous. It was shocking really. He stole a glance over at MJ and grinned when he saw her dart her eyes over at him. He reached down and slid his hand into hers. "So far so good. Now we have to make it though dinner."

MJ smiled. "How hard could dinner be. I mean Ned and Betty are going to be ridiculous but it should be fine, right?"

The elevator doors opened to the garage. "Sure. We just have to make it though dinner and then a dance. I haven't been battling any super villains lately so no one should be trying to kill me." He opened the passenger side door for her and waited for her to slide in before closing it. Walking around he slid behind the steering wheel and started the engine. It would be fine.

XXXXXXXXXX

Dinner was not fine. Ned and Betty were predictably over the top. But that was expected. What Peter hadn't expected despite being warned by Tony was that their table would be next to another foursome. A foursome that included a nurse, two super soldiers, and an assassin. Although Peter though Bucky was probably interchangeable between assassin and super soldier. Nevertheless he really had not expected them to crash dinner. 

Spending so much time with so many paranoid people had forced him to adopt some of their habits. Habits like not sitting with his back to the door. Which only meant that he saw them the second they walked through the door. He sank down in his seat which he knew was not going to do any good. 

MJ followed his line of sight. "Unbelievable. Where are the other four?"

"Rhodey and Sam are both in DC. I checked. I think Vision and Wanda are out of town too." Peter hissed at MJ.

Ned turned around. "Hey guys! What are you doing here?"

Peter and MJ forced smiles on their face. MJ glared at Natasha. "Yeah guys. What are you doing here?" MJ's question was a lot less friendly than Ned's.

Steve shot Peter an apologetic look and mouthed "I'm sorry."

Natasha and surprisingly Bucky were completely unapologetic. Natasha walked over and dipped her head between Peter and MJ and whispered. "See if you had just let us come over before this would have been easier."

MJ rolled her eyes. Ned ate it up. Peter wanted to crawl under the table. He was just happy that so far no one had recognized them. He slid his phone out and snapped a picture of Bucky and Steve talking to Ned and Charlotte and Natasha talking to Betty and sent it to Tony. He followed it with a picture of himself and MJ frowning. Tony responded with a simple _“Sorry. Tried to warn you."_

XXXXXXXXXX

It was a relief when Peter and MJ got back in the car. MJ looked over at Peter. "You know we could always skip the dance. No one would know."

Peter sighed and held up his wrist. "Tracker. Although Tony wouldn't care. Ned would though. I can't do that to him." He looked over at MJ. "As much as I would love to skip the dance."

MJ sighed. "I know." She reached over and squeezed Peter's hand. "I'm pretty sure none of the avengers are planning on crashing the dance. I think Nat was just making a point."

Peter started the engine. "I hope so."

Peter really wished they had skipped the dance. It was loud. Music was so so. Ned and Betty were having fun. MJ was having fun. Peter tried to enjoy himself. He just felt unsettled. Not quite Spidey sense going off...until it did.


	2. The Panic Button

Peter had one arm around MJ's waist and his other hand was holding hers on the dance floor when his Spidey sense went off. His entire body tensed.

"What?" MJ could feel how tense he had gotten and knew it couldn't be good.

Peter's eyes darted around the room until they landed on one of the doors. Two men had entered that Peter didn't recognize and his Spidey sense definitely was triggering on them. "MJ, I need you out of here." He pulled her off the dance floor. He grabbed Ned's shoulder along the way and pulled him and Betty with them. Before Peter could push them into the hallway they heard gunfire behind them. Spinning around he shoved the other three behind him. He saw one of the men holding a gun in the air.

"Now that I have your attention."

Peter felt MJ's hand slide up until it settled on his watch. She had played around with it enough that she knew what she was doing. All he had to do was make sure no one was hurt until backup got here. Glancing around he quickly scouted the area to check for additional targets. He saw the two initial guys but then he caught sight of two more by the other exit. They weren't making themselves known, which meant they were the ones to worry about. He brought his attention back to the one in the middle. The one with the gun, doing all of the talking.

"Here's how this goes. I want the four wealthiest kids front and center. Once we have four, we'll leave with them and the rest of you can go back to enjoying your party. Their parent will pay ransom, they'll be released, and everyone will be back at school on Monday. So...have at it kids. Sell each other out to save yourselves."

Peter wasn't sure what he expected. At first there was a deathly silence then chaos broke out. Peter wished he could say he was shocked at the way some of the kids acted but he had seen quite a bit as Spider-Man. He had seen how horrible people could be but he had also seen some truly remarkable displays of humanity. All of it was playing out in front of him now. Chaos was good though. The longer it took, the more time it would give Tony to get here.

XXXXXXXXXX

Dinner was going great with MJ's parents. They were actually enjoyable dinner companions. And Happy was behaving himself so Tony was counting the night as a success. His watch vibrated and a spider emblem flashed across the face. Setting his jaw he glanced over at Pepper and then to the rest of his dinner guests. "If you'll excuse me for a minute. Something just came up that I need to take care of." Having a reputation for being eccentric meant that when he did stuff like this he could get away with it. He stepped into his office and tapped the nanobot housing activating the Iron Man suit around him. FRIDAY had already opened the balcony so he blasted off.

"FRIDAY, see if you can get a hold of Natasha, Steve, or Bucky." A moment later he was patched through.

"Tony, I tried to stop her but you know how she is."

Tony could hear Natasha and Bucky in the background of Steve's phone. "You can apologize to him in person. Are you still in the city?"

"Yeah, we were going to catch a movie." Steve had stopped walking down the sidewalk forcing the others to stop with him.

"Meet me at Peter's school. His panic alarm just went off."

XXXXXXXXXX

The gunmen seemed to enjoy the chaos. The room was quickly divided into the 'haves' and the 'have nots'. Midtown School of Science and Technology wasn't your normal school. The school's focus by very definition was Science and Technology which meant that quite a few scholarships went out to the brilliant that fell in the 'have not' category. Then there were the kids who's parents paid for them to attend. As long as they could pass the entrance exams and maintain a certain GPA, they were welcome. It was those kids the gunmen were interested in. The ones with the bright futures and rich parents.

Peter and his group stayed out of the fray. Peter watched everything that went on around him, making sure that MJ, Ned, and Betty remained as small of targets as possible. Ned and Peter had been the subject of bullies so many times over the years that they both knew knew how to melt into the background. MJ had years of practice at being invisible. Betty was so scared she was frozen to Ned's side not making a sound. 

It should have been easy for the group to remain unseen. Maybe it would have worked a year ago, but Peter wasn't the same person he was a year ago. Maybe it was the fact that he was studying each of the four men cataloging their weaknesses and looking for an opening. Maybe it was because while everyone else in the gym was in a panic he was completely calm. Maybe it was because he didn't have an ounce of fear on his face. When he cycled back to the main gunman Peter realized he was staring at him.

"I want to know why no one is outing the kid with the most expensive suit in this room." The gunman's voice boomed through the din of chaos causing most of the student body to stop and stare at the gunman's quarry. He started walking toward Peter.

When Peter realized he was moving his way he pushed MJ back and walked forward to meet the gunman. He wanted to keep him as far away from the others as possible.

“Parker? Parker's on scholarship."

Peter almost smiled at Flash's outburst. He was on scholarship...was...a year ago. It's one of the things he had argued with Tony about. On top of a generous donation to upgrade the chem labs over the summer, Tony had also insisted that Principal Morita give Peter's scholarship to some other brilliant kid. Tony had paid Peter's tuition plus donated full scholarships for four other students. The only way Tony had gotten Peter over the fact that he was paying for his school was to point out that it meant that some other kid would have the same chances he did. Peter locked eyes with the gunman. "Take me, leave everyone else alone." Peter spoke low enough that no one else could hear.

"Why should I do that?" The gunman was curious.

"You said it yourself, I've got the most expensive suit in the room. I'm worth more." Peter decided that he definitely did not need a career in acting. He was completely winging everything he was saying just trying to buy time.

The gunman ran his eyes over Peter, sizing him up. "You're also the most dangerous one here. And they have no idea, do they?"

Peter put on his most innocent expression. "I'm just a 16 year old kid. How dangerous could I be? Just take me and leave everyone else alone. We can walk out of here. You can contact my family. They'll do anything to get me back." Peter shuddered at what he had just said. He was pretty sure that the man in front of him had no idea what 'anything' meant. Peter knew what Natasha and Bucky were capable of. Even though Clint never seemed dangerous, Peter also knew what he was capable of. Steve and Rhodey probably wouldn't kill the man but he'd never be seen again. Tony...Tony would tear him to pieces.

Eyes locked and straining, but failing, to hear the exchange between the two, the entire room missed the fact that the two unknown gunmen by the door disappeared. They also missed the figure that snaked her way through the crowd towards the second gunman.

The man standing in front of Peter either sensed that something was wrong or saw something on Peter's face that made him panic because the next thing Peter saw was a gun pointed at him. "Who are you?" the man hissed.

What absolutely no one missed was the crash of glass from the skylight above and the red and gold armor that landed between Peter and the gunman just as the man pulled the trigger


	3. Sacrifice

The bullet deflected off of the Iron Man armor. Tony reached out and grabbed the man's hand, twisting it until the he dropped to his knees. Firing a taser blast with his repulsor the man crumpled into unconsciousness. Tony glanced around the room and saw that Natasha's target was also unconscious. Steve and Bucky had melted into the background. 

Turning around he looked at Peter who hadn't moved. Hadn't ducked, hadn't dove to the side. He glanced over Peter's shoulder and saw MJ a couple strides behind him. Tony glanced down at Peter's wrists and saw both web shooters formed. Peter hadn't ducked because he had already decided that he was stopping the bullet...one way or the other. Taking the chance of it hitting MJ wasn't an option. But the alternative almost made Tony's heart stop. He had a vision of blood blossoming across Peter's white shirt. He retracted the helmet and face mask and looked at Peter. Peter in his perfectly white dress shirt. "Pete?"  
"I'm good." Peter looked up at Tony. "I'm ok." Peter retracted the web shooters and looked around at the pandemonium breaking our around them. His eyes landed back on Tony. "So when prom comes around, we're just going to stay in. Small party. MJ, Ned, maybe a few others. The team can come. It'll be fun."

"Yeah, no more dances." Tony forced a smile. "Go check on MJ while I get the police to clean up this." He gestured to the lump on the floor.

XXXXXXXXXX

Tony finished talking to the police. He had kept his eyes focused on Peter the entire time. The students had been relocated to other areas of the school until their parents could pick them up. Peter and MJ had stayed in the gym. Jacket and tie abandoned, Peter was currently sitting on the bleachers with his legs stretched out in front of him, leaning on MJ who was sitting behind him. "You two ok?"

Peter nodded. "Are we allowed to leave yet?"

Tony shook his head. "It made the news. Happy is bringing MJ's parents here and will drive them and MJ home. He knows how to avoid the media."

Peter let out a little growl. "How long are we stuck here?"

"Not too long. Happy is about 5 minutes out." Tony studied Peter. Something was wrong but he wasn't sure what. "I need to check with Morita on a couple things. I'll be back in a few minutes and we can head home."

MJ leaned forward and kissed the top of Peter's head as they watched Tony walk out of the gym. "What's wrong. I can always tell when you're stuck in your head."

Peter sighed and leaned further into MJ. "Just a weird night." Content to sit there and let MJ play with his hair, he tried to get himself to calm down. He wasn't hyped like he was after a battle. But he was spun up and MJ was right, he was stuck in his head. He glanced over to the door when he saw Happy walk in with MJ's parents. They crossed the room quickly and Peter reluctantly sat up so MJ could move. Both of her parents pulled her into a hug then looked over at Peter.

"Thank you for keeping her safe."

Peter forced a smile. "Of course." He stood up an looked at MJ. "I'll text you later."

MJ untangled herself from her parents and leaned over and kissed Peter on the cheek. "Get out of your head." She whispered in his ear.

Peter watched Happy usher MJ and her parents out and looked around the empty gym. The silence was deafening. Grabbing his jacket and tie he pulled his keys out of his pocket and headed toward the exit.

XXXXXXXXXX

Iron Man landed on the Coney Island boardwalk and retracted the suit. The kid was going to force him to go gray sooner rather than later. When he returned to the gym and found it empty he pulled up Peter's tracker. He had expected to see him with Happy or maybe headed home. Instead, the dot representing Peter was at Coney Island. Of course it was. He had known something was off and he should have stayed with him.

He could see Peter sitting on the back of a bench facing the water. Tony crossed the distance to the bench. If his kid just needed time alone he'd give it to him. But he wanted to make sure he was ok first.

Peter heard Tony land and couldn't help the tiny smile that crept across his face. He liked that Tony always sought him out. He knew he'd give him space if he asked for it but there was something comforting in the fact that he knew Tony would always check on him. 

When he heard him a couple paces behind him he scooted to the side which he hoped would be interpreted as an invitation to sit down.

Tony climbed on the back of the bench and settled next to Peter. The waves were soothing but he didn't think that was why Peter had ended up here. He glanced up and down the beach. A year ago it was a fiery disaster. Now, it was calm and peaceful. A lot had changed in a year.

After a few minutes Peter turned to look at Tony. "At least the beach isn't on fire."

Tony chuckled, "Yeah, I was just thinking how different it is from last year."

Peter got a somber look on his face, "A lot of things are different. I don't think I really realized that until tonight." Peter stared back at the ocean. "You know what I was doing the whole time the gunmen were there?" He paused and glanced at Tony. "I was evaluating targets. Looking for opportunities. Trying to figure out how to buy time until you got there."

Part of Tony died a little on the inside. The other part was extraordinarily proud that his kid handled himself so well. He just wish he never had to.

"Two years ago, I would have huddled in a corner with Ned, made sure everyone was ok, and then gone home to May and Ben. A year ago, I probably would have done something that wasn't very well thought out. Maybe succeeded, maybe not. Still would have done something. Now...". Peter took a deep breath. "Something dawned on me as I was trying to convince that guy to take me and leave everyone else alone. I said 'my family would do anything to get me back'. And it hit me. There are people who would kill for me. Kill to protect me. Kill to avenge me."

Tony didn't even hesitate. "Damn right."

Peter looked over at Tony. "It's a lot to take in." He paused and took another deep breath. "Here's the problem. I'm afraid I would do the same thing to protect the people I care about. And that terrifies me."

Tony studied Peter's face. "I am probably not the best person to help you find your moral compass. My nickname earlier in life was the 'Merchant of Death'."

"Yeah you were also drunk off your ass during those years. Not sure you had the best judgement back then." Peter ducked when Tony took a playful swipe at the back of his head. "You're too hard on yourself. You hide it well from the world but when you see something wrong you fix it. Doesn't matter what you have to sacrifice to do it."

Sacrifice. The word itself scared Tony. Sacrifice. It was something Peter had done over and over again. Being Spider-Man he sacrificed being a regular teenager. A year ago he had sacrificed going to a high school dance with a girl he liked to take down a bad guy. Tonight he had been willing to let a bullet hit him in the chest to ensure MJ's safety. He wasn't sure Peter realized what could have happened if Tony hadn't landed in front of him. "Pete, there will come a time when you'll be faced with the having to kill someone to save someone. There will also come a time where you'll be faced with deciding between your life or someone else's life. I hope to God it's many, many years from now. I wish I could say you can do this and avoid those situation but after all I've seen I don't think it's possible." Tony paused and looked at Peter. "When it happens we can get through it together."

Peter stared out at the ocean and listened to the waves hitting the shore. "Right before you landed, when he pointed the gun at me, he said 'Who are you?'." Peter turned and looked at Tony. "I realized in that moment I know exactly who I am. I'm Spider-Man."

Tony chuckled, "Damn right."

Peter smiled. "I've struggled over the last couple months trying to reconcile my worlds colliding into each other. Trying to keep everything separate in my head is exhausting. When he asked me who I am, everything solidified into a single thought. Peter Parker and Spider-Man are one and the same. I'm not saying I want my identity revealed, it's just I don't think I'm fighting myself any more to keep the two separate."

"Kid, I hate to tell you, you've been struggling with this longer than just a couple months." Tony nudged Peter with his shoulder. "None of this is easy, just remember you don't have to do it alone."

"I know." Peter smiled and looked back at the ocean


End file.
